Picture File: Former South African deputy president FW de Klerk arrives during the annual State of the Nation Address and opening of Parliament in Cape Town on 13 February 2020. Picture: AFP/Brenton Geach
The Economic freedom Fighters (EFF) have confirmed that their secretary-general, Marshall Dlamini, made his way to the Cape Town central police station on Sunday to lay a charge of hate speech against former president FW De Klerk.
The EFF have labelled him a “racist Apartheid denialist” and want to see him sanctioned for the comments he made during an interview with the SABC last month in which he said apartheid was not a crime against humanity.
The EFF immediately called for de Klerk’s Nobel Peace Prize to be revoked citing the reason that he allegedly had blood on his hands and was not a peacemaker.
His foundation later withdrew the statement on his behalf but that did little to stop the avalanche of criticism that came his way from the likes of the ANC and Tony Leon.
The Norwegian Nobel Committee dismissed calls to strip de Klerk of his Nobel Peace Prize, which he was awarded in 1993 alongside Nelson Mandela.
“As a matter of principle, the Norwegian Nobel Committee never comment upon what the Nobel Peace Prize laureates may say and do after they have been awarded the prize,” said Norwegian Nobel Committee Administration and Information Secretary KB Asdal.
The chairperson of the board of trustees of the FW de Klerk Foundation, Dave Stewart, has said they will no longer be commenting on the matter.
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(Compiled by Kaunda Selisho)
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